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October 10, 2007
Business Ideas Thus Far
Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of MIT Sloan. Everyone is full of ideas. Here's an unfiltered list of the ones that have jumped to my mind so far:
1. Tactical Guide for Tech Startups
Nobody seems to have published the anecdotes and advice we always get from successful entrepreneurs, and an edited set of best online resources on basic legal structures, basic laws, term sheets, dilution, interviewing for talent, scalability guide, low-budget marketing.
2. A Consumer Reports for the educated, rational consumer.
When consumer products companies do market research, they build products that solve perceived needs, not actual ones. What if the consumer wants to choose which perceived needs they are buying solutions for? For example, when developing dish washing liquid soap, large CP companies found people judged the quality by much more than cleanliness - they judged it on smell (which I don't mind paying for - sinks can smell nasty), how much bubbles it made (for me, less is more if it cleans just the same. But not for the average Joe.) and if the remaining water looked dirty (I don't care). Also, some product lines have large jumps in price for models with really cheap incremental features - when a company gets ultra-high margins on really cheap ad-ons, I want to know. As a consumer, if it's that cheap, I just want it wrapped into the base model.
This company I propose would deliver real value by selling this type of information to consumers. These product facts are not secret, but companies would prefer that consumers were not thinking about the products cost structure (more what the consumer is able/willing to pay). Competition allegedly drives this out of the market, but not enough for me because the companies create "feature value cartel points" (my name). Exception: Software with network effects. Then I'll gladly use the version that can't export for free, and pay the $50 or whatever for the Pro version that can.
3. Personal Health Records
It was my idea two yeas ago: an online Quicken for my medical records, with the most important piece being that I manage the data myself, not my insurance or doctor. Immunizations, allergies, medications, etc. My work experience gave me lots of insight into why this was a good idea. Low and behold, Dossia, Microsoft, and Google are all well on their way now. I'd join one of them to work on this.
4. Teacher Dictation of Feedback for Learners
This idea works somewhat at the college level, but much more at the K-8 level for behavior and qualitative assessment feedback. Good teachers grade with written feedback in the margins, or having reflective behavior conversations with students at the end of the day. Instead, teacher can leave more feedback in a richer medium - voicemail for kids. Feedback ideally left using a PDA, or cheaper version involves a dial-in dictation line. Learners receive voicemail privately at a classroom station using an optocoded name card. A message can be tied to assignments or days or photos. Can be tagged Staff Only, Parent Only, or Student Only message. Examples: Works great on assessing journals and writing, but less well on math where self-paced comprehension of symbolic sequential corrections (equation progression) is necessary. Saves precious teacher time. Preserves feedback better. Could make this audio feedback available to parents in context with the online grade reporting system. Behavior feedback can be emailed.
That's all I have time to share tonight. There's plenty of kinks not worked out in each idea above.
Posted by Jeff at 09:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack